Search Results for: education

October 31, 2018

Conversations may be more productive when held in the great outdoors

Conversations are more responsive in natural environments such as parks and gardens than indoors, finds new research by the University of Manchester and Cardiff University. The researchers recorded conversations between three- and four-year-old children and their parents while they explored a city park and the park’s indoor education centre and found that the conversations in the park were more responsive and connected compared to those recorded indoors. The study ‘Responding to nature: Natural environments improve parent-child communication’ is published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

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October 26, 2018

We need to move on from the stigma of mental health to finding solutions

by Gary Helm • Comment, Wellbeing

Just as in physical health, everybody has a level of mental health. And while companies have begun to offer corporate gym membership discounts, bowls of fruit around the office, monthly massage and investment in huge amounts of ergonomically supportive furniture to try to assist their colleagues in maintaining a good level of physical health, few seem to be getting to grips with their colleagues’ mental wellbeing, despite the reality that they are dealing with huge numbers of employees who struggle.

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October 18, 2018

Menopause is one of the last great workplace taboos

by Kate Usher • Comment, Wellbeing

Today is World Menopause Day, yet the number of companies that incorporate the menopause into their wellbeing programme is disturbingly low. There are a multitude of reasons why this is the case, but put simply I believe there are three key reasons – it isn’t glamorous, they don’t have the knowledge and experience to deal with it, and because socially it has remained a taboo that we have been reluctant to talk about, even amongst women.

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October 17, 2018

Manchester is being chosen over London as location for tech start-ups

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

The new northern home of the BBC is giving London a run for its money when it comes to siting offices for the UK’s top tech talent, with Manchester leading the way, according to CWJobs. The recruitment firm found that those who consider London to have the best talent, the most likely (75 percent) reason for this being the concentration of tech companies. Of those employers who believe Manchester has the UK’s best tech talent (9 percent), 56 percent believe this is due to better tech-focused educational institutions (vs 43 percent who thought London’s were better). (more…)

October 16, 2018

The self-employed live day to day but remain worried about plans for the future, claims study

by Mark Eltringham • News

Self-employed workers are mostly financially secure and happy in the present, but concerned about the future, a new report by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) and Sherpa has found. The report, ‘The Path to Prosperity, claims that although almost three quarters (72 percent) of freelancers are currently enjoying life because of how they are managing their money, 77 per cent are concerned the money they have – or are going to save – will not last. It also found that over half (51 percent) of the self-employed have felt anxious or stressed about their financial situation. This is exacerbated by the lack of tailored money management advice and flexible savings products available for the self-employed.

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October 12, 2018

World Bank report sets out the challenges of the changing nature of work

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. New ways of production are adopted, markets expand, and societies evolve. But some changes provoke more attention than others, in part due to the vast uncertainty involved in making predictions about the future. The 2019 World Development Report studies how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today.

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October 12, 2018

Some regions are better prepared for the rise of automation than others

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Technology

Concerted action is needed from national and local politicians, businesses and education providers to improve educational opportunities in all cities, from early years to schools and adult learning. This is according to a major report from the think tank Centre for Cities. It examines how automation and globalisation are transforming the skills needed to thrive in the workplace, and the extent to which people in English cities are gaining these skills. The report claimsthat interpersonal and analytical skills – such as negotiation and critical thinking – are increasingly important for current and future workers, as manual and physical jobs are particularly under threat from automation and globalisation.

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October 8, 2018

Unskilled and low skilled men most at risk from Brexit

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Men with GCSE qualifications or below employed in certain manual occupations are more likely than other groups to work in industries at particular risk from new barriers to trade with the EU after Brexit. Historically, those in this group have struggled to find equally well-paid work elsewhere when job losses have occurred. That is one of the key conclusions from detailed new analysis of trade data carried out by researchers at IFS and funded by the ESRC’s UK in a Changing Europe initiative.

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October 5, 2018

Innovation and culture are key ingredients of successful cities

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News

CBRE has released Our Cities, Knowledge for the future, a report and microsite which explores how British cities might look and feel in twenty years’ time. The research claims to cast new light on the complexity of the future city. The project examines what will make a successful city through a collection of over 80 separate articles with insights on areas such as diversity, culture and sport, the economy, sustainability, governance, health, transport and placemaking. In doing so it identifies innovation, culture, and governance as being crucial to the success of British cities.

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October 2, 2018

Stressed, ignored and knackered – the lot of British workers in 2018

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

Workers in Britain feel that they are working harder than ever before, new research reveals. The Skills and Employment Survey, a joint project between Cardiff University, University College London and the University of Oxford, has been researching the views of workers since the mid-1980s.

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September 20, 2018

Digital Board could help Local Authorities deliver smart initiatives

by Sara Bean • AI, Cities, News, Public Sector, Technology

Local authorities, which are on the front line of implementation when it comes to smart, place-based digital initiatives could be helped to deliver positive, sustainable citizen outcomes for their locality with the formation of a Digital Board – a new report claims. Launched at techUK’s Local Gov Transformation: Creating smart places event, What makes a ‘good’ Digital Board? draws upon the expertise of techUK industry members and public sector stakeholders to guide local authorities through building a stronger understanding of digital, data and technological solutions into decision-making levels by establishing and maintaining a good Digital Board. (more…)

September 18, 2018

Half of all workplace tasks will be performed by machines within seven years

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

The world is going through a workplace revolution that will bring a seismic shift in the way humans work alongside machines and algorithms, according to new research by the World Economic Forum. By 2025 more than half of all current workplace tasks will be performed by machines as opposed to 29 percent today. Such a transformation will have a profound effect on the global labour force, however in terms of overall numbers of new jobs the outlook is positive, with 133 million new jobs expected to be created by 2022 compared to 75 million that will be displaced. The research, published in The Future of Jobs 2018, is an attempt to understand the potential of new technologies to disrupt and create jobs. It is also seeks to provide guidance on how to improve the quality and productivity of the current work being done by humans and how to prepare people for emerging roles.